Ben Brown: Sarah Palin has been a successful governor

Juneau attorney Ben Brown, in an Alaska Observer op-ed, says that Sarah Palin has been a success in her time in the governor's office. Brown counters the naysaying from the usual anti-Palin suspects by pointing out some of her accomplishments:

Palin came to office with some specific goals, some of which she has accomplished outright, others which she has advanced appreciably along the spectrum from inception to completion. The Petroleum Profits Tax revisions were passed in time to help Alaskans reap unprecedented financial gains from our most marketable natural resource, and also in the wake of an ethics scandal that caused some Alaskans to doubt the fundamental integrity of state government.

The debate about the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act resulted in legislation that has advanced the progress about this mega-project to a point I at times wondered if I'd ever see in my lifetime. Exxon has now signed on to work with TransCanada, and BP and ConocoPhillips are displaying vocal, tangible plans to get the gas to market. Palin has submitted reasonable, fiscally-prudent capital and operating budgets to the Legislature, which have been scrutinized and ultimately passed largely in the form she proposed.

Palin has not always been as supportive of Juneau's role as Alaska's capital city as her predecessors, but she has clearly done some good things for us. She has unwaveringly supported the Kensington Gold Mine, which is now closer than ever to opening and bolstering our economy at a most crucial point in time.

Brown says criticism of Gov. Palin is unfounded because she is leaving the state in Sean Parnell's good and capable hands. Though he doesn't know what Sarah Palin intends to do next, Brown says that he knows that she is "a formidable force."

That bodes well for her continued success.

- JP